Assassin’s Creed: Unity Is Better Than You Might Think

I’ll admit when I’m wrong, and now is going to be one of those times. I’m sorry, Ubisoft, but I was wrong about Assassin’s Creed: Unity. I was wrong to say that it was a bad game because of its poor release, or because of the fact that it was riddled with bugs. I was wrong to criticise the story, or the setting, or the fact that you guys made the game at all. Yep, I was just plain wrong. See, I said all of these things to my friends and family without ever actually playing the game, and for that I apologise. As it turns out – and it does hurt a little to say it – I’m really enjoying the game.

See, I was once a follower of the series. Being a massive history buff, and enjoying all things assassin’ey, meant that the first Assassin’s Creed was my kind of game. Then slowly, as the series progressed, I began to fall out of love with it. All of the games felt similar, and there was very little to keep me interested after the spat as Etzio, in the third game. I spent a little time playing as Kenway in Black Flag, but that was pretty much entirely centred around the pirate / sea faring side of the game – for the life of me I couldn’t tell you what happened in the story. Other than that, I’ve been of the opinion that Ubisoft should quit the AC series sooner, rather than later.

That was until I decided to pick up Unity. My brother had brought it on release, but spent so much time complaining about the bugs that he had all but put me off the idea of ever playing it, but it was boredom that drew me to it. I’d spent most of the evening before playing State of Decay, and I had a few hours on a Sunday morning to kill before I went off and played my usual game of football, so I decided to bite the bullet and play Unity. The first half an hour didn’t suck me in, but I enjoyed it enough to give it a go again when I got back from football.

Then, all of a sudden, I’d found that I had spent most of my afternoon playing the game. The hours seemed to fly by, and I was completely immersed in the world of Revolutionary France. The game is stunning, and that definitely helped to bring the world to life, for me at least. I think that it was also nice to see historical France, but at the same time being able to experience some of the sights that are still present in the city today; buildings like the Louvre and Notre Dame are incredibly realistic and wonderful to just climb around. Bit weird that I’ve used the game as an opportunity to do a bit of sight seeing, but I think it’s important for a game series like Assassin’s Creed to get the setting right.

The story itself is pretty solid, and I actually quite enjoyed playing it. For me, though, it was the multi-player that was this title’s ‘Pirate Ship Sailing’. It was the ‘something different’ for Unity. I haven’t played much of it, but what I have played I’ve enjoyed – and I’d imagine that if you had a few buddies who wanted to play it with you, it would be pretty decent.

I think that I’ve had a bit of an advantage in that I got to play the game after its various updates. My brother was telling me of floating bodies and see-through faces. He’s told me of falling through the graphics or becoming stuck on buildings – but I’ve had none of that. In all, my experience has been almost bug free. Had it been glitchy from the start, I’d have stopped playing it long ago. So, if you played the game at release, but you were pissed off with the glitches and gave up, I’d suggest giving it another go. It’s worth at least a go!